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Article
Household income predicts trajectories of child internalizing and externalizing behavior in high-, middle-, and low-income countries
Psychology Department Faculty Publications
  • Jennifer E Lansford, Duke University
  • Patrick S Malone, University of South Carolina
  • Sombat Tapanya, Chiang Mai University
  • Liliana Maria Uribe Tirado, Universidad San Buenaventura
  • Arnaldo Zelli, University of Rome
  • Liane Peña Alampay, Ateneo de Manila University
  • Suha M Al-Hassan, Hashemite University
  • Dario Bacchini, Second University of Naples
  • Marc H Bornstein, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
  • Lei Chang
  • Kirby Deater-Deckard
  • Laura Di Giunta, University of Rome La Sapienza
  • Kenneth A Dodge, Duke University
  • Paul Oburu, Maseno University
  • Concetta Pastorelli, University of Rome La Sapienza
  • Ann T Skinner, Duke University
  • Emma Sorbring, University West
  • Laurence Steinberg, Temple University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-4-2018
Disciplines
Abstract

This study examined longitudinal links between household income and parents’ education and children’s trajectories of internalizing and externalizing behaviors from age 8 to 10 reported by mothers, fathers, and children. Longitudinal data from 1,190 families in 11 cultural groups in eight countries (Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and United States) were included. Multigroup structural equation models revealed that household income, but not maternal or paternal education, was related to trajectories of mother-, father-, and child-reported internalizing and externalizing problems in each of the 11 cultural groups. Our findings highlight that in low-, middle-, and high-income countries, socioeconomic risk is related to children’s internalizing and externalizing problems, extending the international focus beyond children’s physical health to their emotional and behavioral development.

Citation Information
Lansford, J. E., Malone, P. S., Tapanya, S., Tirado, L. M. U., Zelli, A., Alampay, L. P., … Steinberg, L. (2019). Household income predicts trajectories of child internalizing and externalizing behavior in high-, middle-, and low-income countries. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 43(1), 74–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025418783272